best part of my day.

Someone loves to go for a run. Enjoy a little piece of my running buddy Milo, and what I experience every time I ask him out on a run, it's good stuff I promise! If only I felt like him every time I put on my runners to head out the door. Oh the life of a very loved dog...

birthday lovins' to the worm.

This is my tribute to The Running Worm on her birthday! First, my lovely little running worm.... I prepared THIS for you. No it's not you in a sushi roll, but come on, that was too predictable, everyone was totally all, oh you KNOW FWR is making her into a sushi roll for her birthday. Oh no, I made something better. Enjoy muffin.

Nothing says birthday love like a glamor shots picture of us the night we first met, it was love at first sight. Maybe that was all the wine we were drinking, maybe not. But I'd like to think our creepy kind of love is REAL! I am having this made into keychains, photo album covers and t-shirts. The t-shirts we will wear in Chicago during our late birthday week celebration together. Interweb, if you would like to order your own, please feel free.

I honestly don't know what I'd do without the Worm, she makes me laugh on a daily basis, and I'm pretty sure without her I wouldn't know the joy of meat. In boxes. Or just how fantastic the color pink really is. I think she is an amazing friend and woman. I'm pretty sure we are ALMOST like the same person. We almost share a birthday, we both love beef and beer and rainbows. Is there even any difference? I think not.

Who wins the creepy award now?! Yeah, that's right, I win. Happy Birthday Ashley, I hope it's fan-rematteffing-tastic!

9 weeks to half 'm' day.

Despite a weekend full of wedding and family, I managed to get a long run in on Sunday. I thought I was doomed weather wise, and debated going ahead and doing my long run on Saturday post wedding (it was a morning wedding--and oh yes i have pictures of me in pink fluffy goodness, and no ashley, i don't look like a peep marshmallow bunny) but I accidentally fell asleep... for a few hours. Then of course needed to shove my face with pizza with the fam. So you know, that clearly won.

After sleeping in big time Sunday morning I puttered around and the weather was better than Saturday's had been, so I ventured out for another lonely long run. Sigh. It was stupid cold, but not stupid windy, so I didn't wimp out and sure did do my run outside. This had to be my worst run of the year, and since I started running again. I sure did have a small break down a few miles in (thanks to some sock issues and being emotionally drained) and things didn't improve that much from there. But I was slapped around after some serious pouting and reminded that bad runs, kinda like shit, happen. So I moved on. Ate some post long run Pho and enjoyed my night.

Although there WAS something significant that happened on that run of mine. I was lopping along at my slow little pace along a street near my neighborhood when a Suburban with two gentlemen pulled up next to me. THAT'S not creepy for a girl running alone with an iPod in! But no worries, the first thing they said was, "are you running a marathon?" And I knew they meant training for one, so I explained my OKC thing and it just so happened I was talking to the Wichita race directors armed with a city map. They were so nice and chatty and it was a great distraction. Right.....just going to go ahead and delete that snarky little post I had drafted airing my frustrations with the Wichita Race Directors.... chirp.... It turns out sharing my grievances over some recent changes to our two major local races (we don't have a lot of races, or a super supportive community in regard to running in here) to the faces of the race directors eliminated my need to slap my frustrations all over the interweb.

It turns out these guys were out charting the course for the NEW Wichita Prairie Fire Marathon, (hmmm, i just realized the logo looks like a rabbit with fire coming out of it's butt... ummm might want to reconsider that...just sayin'...is it running fast because it had to much mexi, orrrr....???) taking place on 10.10.10. Sigh. Frustration number one. They asked me if I planned on running that, and I told them I would have LOVED to, and I was really bummed about the fact it is landing on the day of Chicago, and that I already signed up for Chicago. Then I asked if they were going to have the new course go through my 'hood and sure enough they are. SWEET! I shared my excitement and hopes to do the Wichita M in 2011. They were so nice about it all, so I forgave them for choosing the date they did and realized they are simply trying to make our running community as good as it can possibly be.

But then... THEN, I shared with them my REAL beef. The date change of the Wichita Half Marathon. That OTHER race I need a little redemption at. I told them since I was doing the OKC half I couldn't participate in the Wichita Half which I was severely disappointed about. You see the Wichita Half used to be in September, but they moved it to April 25. Right. That's the day of OKC, a race which TONS of Wichita runners do every year. They understood my frustration and were again really nice about it. So I forgave them, but only a little. I'm still frustrated I'm going to miss yet another (thanks to those little stress fractures) Wichita Half where I can't get sweet redemption and take on my nemesis.... THAT woman, fanny pack. Another big sigh. What is a girl supposed to do? So I carried on with my run feeling better about my Wichita race frustrations and hoping next year I can get a little redemption and finally run a full marathon in my city.

best part of my day.

The fact that it's The Lawyer's BIRFDAY! I heart this girl, that one standing next to me in this picture, post 'THAT' marathon last year. I couldn't ask for a better friend.

I love her more than is probably acceptable by all standards, makes me kinda creepy. I honestly don't know what I would do without her, I'd probably pout quite a bit, and not ever end up doing my long runs, or get hit by a car on said runs.

So go over to her blog and give her some birthday lovin' blahggies!! Today kicks off a week of Throuple birthdays. Yeah, we are just that ridiculous that we all have birthdays within a week of each other. Tell me that isn't some fate. Because who else would The Lawyer have found to create this piece of bloggie birthday love?!! The answer? NO ONE!!!

This one's for you Ashley (oh and The Lawyer of course), I present to you, in honor of The Lawyer's Birthday.... The Running Lawyer Burrito:

10 weeks to OKC.

Sunday was a heartfest. I ran 14 miles on the 14th (i did the same mileage on the same date last year, awwww, how sweet). Happy Valentines Day to me! Last year I remember being in pain for most of the day after my 14 miler, this time around? Not so much. Since I missed my planned 14 on Saturday, due to life, I sucked it up and ran alone on Sunday. The thing is, that since my 14 got postponed a day, one of my running buddies, Katie, called on Saturday morning to suggest we do the "Not for Wimps" Trail Race in a city right outside Wichita. She did the race last year and reported it brutal and messy, but oh so fun. So of course I was all about taking 10 of my 14 miles to the brutal suburb trails.

However. The Kansas weather showed up Sunday morning, wind chills in the single digits, wind gusting up to 40 mph, mixed with pending snow. Katie called and we decided 10 miles, part of it run out in an open field, in the weather and on that course (which goes over a lot of sand, because yes, little known fact, Wichita is a very sandy city, especially along river banks--which the race is run along, random but true) was a bad idea. So I wimped out. Like a true Fair Weather Runner. I was a total and utter wimp. Because I sure did take those 14 miles inside to the Y. But here is my reasoning. The wind. I can take the cold, the sleet, the rain, the snow, anything really. But the wind? No. It makes me cry. I was positive that if I attempted to those 14 miles in the evil wind I would end up curled in a fetal position on the side of a road, where wild dogs would surely find me and eat me. All thanks to THAT marathon (yeah, i say THAT marathon like someone would say THAT woman... you know, with total disdain).

So I wimped out. I was a wimp wimp wimp wimp wimp. Hey, at least I admit it. I had no desire to face the wind after an already semi-tiring weekend. So the YMCA track and treadmill it was, I split my run between the two and called it good. THEN I discovered the absolute joy that is chocolate milk after a long run. Oh my. It was delightful. I never understood how The Lawyer or some other running buddies could stand to drink chocolate milk after a long run. But for some reason on Sunday I was craving it. I think I'm hooked. WHO KNEW!? So there you go, an uneventful, non-painful, semi-boring 14 miler where I watched the Olympics or pestered my friends via text. In addition to that 14 miler I did manage to run my two other scheduled runs, but left out a few miles thanks to a busy-ish tiring week.

As for this week, it's one of those weeks where you try and jam as much in as you can among big events... like work and a sister getting married and all the activities that surround helping her get ready for that. Yeah, my sister is getting married on Saturday, and I'm so excited for her, it's just wonderful! I plan to stick to my long run schedule and knock that long run out on Sunday, we'll see how the weekend goes with so much family in town. The good news is that YOU interweb will get to see the FWR in a big pink fluffy dress. Of this I promise you... can't wait can you?

groundhog 10K.

Ummm, yes, I'm finally JUST NOW posting about that Groundhog 10K race. I suck, but meh.

So really that race was a big fat excuse to spend a weekend with my girlfriends in Kansas City. The race itself was pretty fun and different, and yes, it is totally underground so it wasn't freezing, which was fantastic. But that wasn't the highlight of the weekend by any means, that would be the before and after the race! There was a nice little Kansas blahggie meeting (but bummer Anna didn't find us, hopefully next time we will make sure she finds us) with myself, The Chicken, The Worm, The Sri Lankan and The Lawyer. The Chicken, of course, put us all to shame with his ridiculous speed, and the Sri Lankan got some 10K redemption, The Worm had a good 5K and The Lawyer was in the same boat as me, missing her PR by a teensy bit. I think it was a good race for all of us. Plus we had The Sri Lankan's husband, the Sherpa, to watch over all of our stuff, and guide us, we seriously had it made that morning!

As for the race itself, I wasn't planning on running it well, if you remember I claimed I wouldn't have a good showing. That said, hypothetically I shouldn't complain that I missed my PR by two seconds...even though inside I might, just maybe, had been fuming about it for a day or two. Hard to tell. But what can you do? I felt good the whole race, and am beating myself up that if I had done a few things differently (like peed before the race...yeah that's a lot of information, but it's true), or not stopped for a drink, I could have gotten a PR. But I'm over it, and the weekend of fun MORE than made up for missing that little PR, seriously, meh, 10Ks aren't my thing... I don't think anyway.

The good stuff, the events surrounding the race, so for that, I give you photos. Because it cannot be summed up in simple words! Even though the pictures can't do it justice, I swear my abs were sore for days from laughing so hard over the course of 24 hours with these girls (and the sherpa and running chicken). It was ridiculous really. Whoever decided the four of us should be allowed to be together for extended periods of time had NO idea what they were asking for. We choose to believe it was fate. So enjoy:

*some afternoon delight, in the way of sushi and sake at stix at legends, after which we went to the nike outlet so we could all properly match, and then to a movie where i'm sure we annoyed the heck out of everyone else in that theatre, it was a good afternoon*

*the worm and i are VERY mature, and found these mini grocery carts filled with sweet potato fries not only delicious, but quite fun, it doesn't take a lot to entertain us, clearly. this was pre-race dinner at blanc burgers and oh dear if that wasn't hands down the best burger i've ever had!*

*again, our maturity at work, we were thinking about it and decided our 8th grade humor IS in fact a good time*

*and of course our post-race matchy selves doing jazz hands, no race is complete without them, OORRR the chicken pooh-poohing jazz hands...boo chicken, boo*

*the matchy, match quadrouple with the sherpa, i was chilly, the sherpa was warm! plus i love that he was representing our alma mater with his warm hat, shocker!*


*the lawyer is sad that ashley and i heart each other, or because ashley took my leftovers...

or both. either way, it's a fine, fine photo... oh and this was post-race in the power and light district of KC with some yummy food and beer, natch.*

*awww look, an actual NICE picture of the quadrouple to end it on*

11 weeks to OKC.

I clearly skipped my '12 weeks to' post, because I've been a crappy blogger. So I'll kind of cover both weeks, and by kind of, I mean I will. So for week 12 I ran a grand total of 10 miles, killer and impressive eh? It may have had something to do with the fact that I spent most of the week on vacation skiing. But once I made it home I managed to squeeze in four uninteresting miles and then the Groundhog 10k. Which was so spectacular, it gets a post all it's own. LUCKY.

As for last week, it was better, I actually did all of my runs, but not all of my miles. I managed two runs during the week, which were done fairly easy since I was kind of sore from the race, and yesterday was dedicated to my 12 miler. The dreaded, evil, causes me injury 12. I have to point out I did the run all alone....so lonely. Because someone was out of town. I was nervous about pacing myself, so I pulled out the Garmin for the first time since last August when I used it on the last 12 miler I did. Then I realized I'm kind of a jerk because I let The Lawyer pace me, guide me, pretty much do all the dirty work on our long runs. She is totally getting some sort of gift (please offer suggestions). In addition, maybe I'll stop being a jerk and start pulling my weight on our runs.... or not.

Back to me. And my 12 miles. They were fairly uneventful. For starters, I didn't get injured. That's a plus. Oh and then there was the whole fact that my Garmin died. And since I had NO IDEA how much further it would be for 12 miles (even though i was running in my own hood) I started to panic. Because I should point out I'm a math idiot (even though ironically, i teach 'under' the math department at WSU... i hope they never figured out i charmed my way out of taking college algebra and instead skidded by with taking some lame math class involving how to make an algorithm to quik trip from campus.) So clearly, a little panic. I needed to go 12, and I had no guide, no watch...SCREWED. So I took my average pace, whipped out my phone...which was handy since I'd been texting THIS GIRL about RUNNING CHICAGO TOGETHER throughout my run (just have to give a big EIEIEIAYAYAYAYAyAY), and figured out how much longer I needed to run. It seemed good enough for me.

Oh and then I almost stepped on a dead Possum, just hanging out at one of the cross lights, all gross and mashed, pretty sure I screamed and jumped a little. Oh and THEN these evil little ice/snowflakes started pelting me in my face (at around what i'm guessing was mile 10). And to top it all off? Some AHOLE in a stupid crappy little clown car sure did drive toward me and honk.... THREE TIMES. Right in front of me. Like I hadn't seen him? Because I sure did. Apparently my little self was taking up far too much room on our very wide street. Of course. Why do people do that? I wasn't even running anywhere near the middle of the street. Grrrr.

Overall my run wasn't stellar. But not every long run can be some kind of fantastic, right? So far this year, all my 'long' runs have been really good, so no complaints. I'm not even the teensiest bit sore today. I must FINALLY be doing something right. Sigh of relief. Anyway, I finished my run and came home soaking wet and freezing. So what else would I do other than start inhaling food like mad? NOTHING. Warming up was secondary. That delicious Chili and those poor Milanos had no idea what was in store. Demolished...all the Chili and half the bag of Milanos. In about three minutes flat. It was a good day. And then I finished the rest of the Milanos, natch. Hmmmm there are a lot of all caps in this post, clearly yesterday was a good day. Or should I cyber-scream at you... A GOOD DAY.

once again, i hope oprah doesn't eat me.

Check it out interweb. The FWR sure is signed up for the 10.10.10 Chicago Marathon! _______________________________________________________________

Registration Confirmation for:

Bank of America Chicago Marathon

Dear Rebekah,

Congratulations! You are now registered for Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Please check the event's official website for updates: http://www.chicagomarathon.com

________________________________________________________________

I'll be heading to Chi-Town again this year, but this time to run, not volunteer. Pretty sure this has already been a pretty fantastic morning! Between one last gym date with my girlfriend who is moving to California later today, and registering for Chicago? This Monday has nothing on me.

I'm just glad Oprah will still be occupied with her show this year, gives her less time to hunt down delicious and unsuspecting tourist/marathon runners. My cousin Rachel sure did sign up as well. We both got in as soon as we could. Ohhhhh this marathon is gonna rock my world! And now I can't wait for October.

In other news, I have a 10K race, killer weekend spent with my lovely girlfriends, and my Winter Park stories to still post about at some point this week. I'll get to it eventually, because sorry, Chicago won out over all of that today!